Samurai Champloo: The Aftermath
by Meg Kake
Summary: It has been an extremely long four years since the comrades had all gone their separate ways. Fuu has grown into a stunning young lady and only wishes for some amazing man to blow into town and sweep her off her feet. What she got was Mugen...FUUGEN
1. One Scenario After the Other

It had been nearly two months since the infamous group had left eachother and all gone their separate ways

A/N: IMPORTANT!! REGARDING THAT STATEMENT ABOVE, IT'S NOT ON MY DOCUMENT… AND I CAN'T GET RID OF IT. SO PLEASE DISREGARD IT BECAUSE IT IS FALSE AND UNTRUE!!

OK, so this is my first Champloo fic… ever. I recently became re-obsessed with the show, so I figured it might be fun to bang one out. As with anything else I have written, reviews and comments are ALWAYS more than welcome. So, without further ado…

…Sorry, I lied. DISCLAIMER: I do not own any SC characters etc…

CH1: ONE SCENARIO AFTER THE OTHER

It had been nearly four years since the infamous group had left each other and all gone their separate ways. Fuu was hoping that destiny would once again bring the threesome back together, but there was no sight of either of her two comrades since the split. "Maybe it was just coincidence all along" she sighed while clearing another table on her endless list.

Fuu found herself working at yet another tea shop, much like the one she had started out in before the journey. It was really no big surprise to her, after all, this is what she felt comfortable with. In fact, everything about this teahouse made her feel as though her embarking on that journey had never occurred at all.

Customers trickled in and out at a steady rate, and none of them ever offered her reason for excitement or even entertainment, for that matter. There had been so many times where she found herself nearly praying that either Mugen or Jin would barge in and bring adventure back into her life. But that really didn't seem to be the case anymore. Perhaps a while back, when the journey was still fresh in her mind, she would have had more hope, but she knew that by now the three of them were probably scattered so far apart it would only be lunacy to think there was a chance.

Another customer drifted in, sat down, and ordered some bland food. Honestly, that was the epitome of this who village lifestyle she had grown used to; bland. By the end of her hard day of work, she had come to the resolve that she needed to do something for herself to put a little spice back into her life. Perhaps she would go and get herself a nice spa treatment for the evening and go out on the town. Fuu had begun to feel a little better about her life but when the realization that she was all alone in this town reared its ugly head, her mood was shot right back to crap.

Fuu waved goodbye to her elderly boss as she hung up her apron and left work for the day. The sun was just beginning to set on the streets of Edo, which meant that the night life was just beginning to come out to play. She hastily made her way back to her small rented out cottage, deciding that tonight would be a fine night to stay in just as well.

-MEANWHILE-

At the other end of Edo, a ragged looking man had just snuck his way through his third checkpoint of the week. He hadn't been to Edo in a great while now… in fact, it was almost three years since he had been here last. Or maybe it was two, but honestly, how the hell was he supposed to know? He was still in the process of learning to read, and now he was supposed to know how to do math too? Pfft, yeh right, maybe when warrior priests fly.

It was true, Mugen's math was almost as atrocious as his hair was unruly, but he never saw any real advantage to being able to count beyond 100.

But honestly, all this was beside the point. Here was the true fact of the matter. Mugen, the vagabond piratical killer, was ravaged with hunger, and would just about kill anything that got in between him and a full meal. The clomp of his geta could be heard from all the people in the small shops. They looked out the windows in curiosity, laid eyes on the unruly man, and shut the blinds in an instant. The old folk of this small village wanted nothing to do with the traveler, as it would appear.

"Pfft… buttheads", Mugen hissed beneath his breath. _Buttheads?!_ Holy cow, he was hungrier than he thought. Only on a purely deprived stomach do you come out with a second grade insult such as that. It didn't matter though, because he would soon be happy as a lark with an overly stuffed belly.

But first, he needed some quick cash. Pick pocketing was beneath him at this stage of his criminal career, but a good mugging now and again was always fun. Sadly, ever since his split from his friends, Mugen's much improved moral had dwindled back down to its previous state.

He strode sluggishly down the street, hands up behind his head, with one eye closed and the other lazily looking about for a good target. And then, without much effort at all, he spotted it.

The guy must have been in his late thirties, and from the looks of it, done very well in money making department thus far. "Now, this guy can spare some cash", he nearly growled. In one swift pounce, he had the man pinned up against the side of a building.

"Wha- what are you doing?!" the man croaked, obviously taken aback by the swiftness of his attacker.

Mugen scoffed. "Uhh… mugging you, _duh_". He sniggered at the stupid question, and proceeded with his dirty little deed.

-BACK ON THE OTHER SIDE OF TOWN-

After spending an extensive amount of time arguing with herself over what should be done with her night off, Fuu finally resolved on freshening up and going for a nice stroll.

She had already had a nice long soak in the bath, so now, all that was left for her to do was to dress for the night. She had long since thrown out her pink little kimono in exchange for a few nicer ones that fit her newly developed body. Tonight she would wear her midnight blue one with white the little decorative lilies embroidered into its surface. Her hair, which was much longer by now, was t be pulled up into an elaborate updo atop her head.

Once her makeup and everything else was complete, Fuu eyed herself in the one loan mirror in her house. She looked good, she knew it and tonight, she decided, other people would know it too.

The lanterns on the main strip glowed red in the early night. People wandered up and down the street with drunken lazy smiles scribbled across their faces. They clung to one another for support, sang merrily, and stumbled this way and that. After seeing these happy souls, Fuu knew where she wanted to visit.

The bar at the center of town was teaming with customers. The hustle and bustle certainly provided Fuu with the sought after excitement for the night. She walked in with pride, knowing that tonight she would be the sexy woman that all the men couldn't stop drooling over. With her head held high, she made her way to the front of the bar and sat down on an empty stool.

Almost instantly, the bartender was standing up in front of her. "What'll ya have, Miss?" He slyly took a half second to look down the open collar of her kimono with half lidded eyes.

A shy giggle pushed out between her slightly upturned lips. Honestly, what else _was_ there to drink in Japan?

"Sake" she said simply, trying her best to follow what ever seductive instincts she had. This was truly out of character for Fuu, what with her actually being a bit of a ditz at times, and a klutz 'round the clock. But tonight was going to be her night to let loose, let it all out, and go buck wild… if the chance arose.

The bartender disappeared beneath the counter for a second, and resurfaced with little cup and jug absolutely filled to the brim with steaming hot sake. "This stuff is always on the house for sexy little ladies such as yourself." The man cooed.

"Wow, really?! Thanks mister", she nearly hollered. Realizing this was not the way for a sophisticated young woman to be acting, she quickly regained her composure and replied in a far more seductive voice. "Thank you, but I'd feel badly drinking all this and not repaying you."

You could practically see the man's hair stand on end at this comment. From his point of view, she was telling him that if he got her cocked enough on booze he would end up in the sack with her tonight, but from poor Fuu's objective, she was merely saying that she didn't feel comfortable taking free drinks. Sometimes Fuu just begs to get into foul situations.

So there sat little Fuu, with the alcohol tolerance of an emaciated five year old, little knowledge of how much she could handle, and all the free booze she could ever ask for. This did not bode well in the least.

The drinks kept coming even though the poor girl was past the point of drunken slurring, also making it past the point of no return. In fact, she was so gone she didn't even realize the new presence to the right of her. She was too entwined in her little conversations with the bartender to realize any of the sideways glances she had been receiving for the past few minutes now.

As Fuu drawled on and on about how much she loved to travel the man beside her slumped over the table and silently beckoned the bartender away from her. "You got any food in this joint. Or is it just booze?" his voice sounded absolutely venomous, even at a low level.

"Sorry buddy, just booze."

"That's ok. I'll just drink until I forget how hungry I am." With that bit being said, he slapped a massive handful of coins on the table with a loud bang and simply stated, "Sake".

Fuu's ears perked up at the word, and turned to the newcomer for the first time that night. "Want some 'a mine?" She giggled, "Mines free so here." She forcefully shoved the little cup into the man's hands even though he would have taken the offer willingly.

"I like you girly. What's yer name?" The man's lips were upturned just the slightest bit as he downed the cup of sake and awaited her reply. But the answer never came. When he took the cup away from his face he came to find her passed out completely while being dragged off by the bartender.

"Hey pal, what gives?" Mugen could feel his temper rising, but he could stand to suppress it for just a few more moments while the man gave him his answer.

"You gotta be kidding me. This little chicky drank for free all night on a promise that she would repay me at the end of it all, and I'm prepared to help her keep that promise, passed out or not." By the end of his statement he was so heated over the topic he was spitting everywhere as he spoke.

This didn't sit well with Mugen one bit. Maybe it was because _he_ had wanted to fuck her, maybe it was because this woman had reminded him of someone, or maybe it was just because he was in the mood for a good fight. Whatever the reason, this was not going to fly.

He sat up from his chair and cracked his neck to either side, all the while keeping his eyes fixed on the bartender and the woman. "Sorry, that's not gonna happen". An evil smirk or sorts grew on his face as he waited for the pervert to react.

"The hell it's not!" He spat dropping Fuu to the floor and pulling a katana from his sleeve.

Seeing the small blade pointing in his direction, a full blown grin exploded onto his face, accompanied by fierce eyes as he reached his hand behind him and pulled his sward out of its sheath. Yes, his old sward had been destroyed during his final bout with Jin, but it's been years from then and getting a new blade was the first thing on his priority list.

The bartender charged, screaming what Mugen thought to be a pathetic attempt of a battle cry. "Let's show this fucker how it's done", he growled beneath his breath.

Within an instant Mugen was up on the rafters leaving the bartender bewildered, to say the least. He stared down, arms crossed at his chest, and then leapt with a grunt landing square on the guys face with his iron clad geta. With the momentum he had left Mugen pushed himself off the guy and landed directly in front of him. Mugen was just beginning to get excited for a big showdown when the man cried out while holding his broken nose.

"Stop!! STOP!! You can have her! Just please, please don't kill me!!" The guy's whimpering made Mugen sick. Not really knowing what else to do, he spat on the ground for dramatic effect.

"Well, get outta here already," he said evenly, his controlled voice being even more terrifying than a frantic one. The bartender didn't have to be told twice, with the blink of an eye he had scampered off into the back room leaving Mugen alone with the passed out girl.

"Damn broad don't even know what just happened," he spat while kneeling down beside her. Mugen poked at her with his index finger, hoping that the sharp jabs would startle her out of her coma. After all, not even he was rotten enough to leave her passed out on the floor of a bar. It would be nice to think that he was just being a nice guy and wanting to get her home safely, but this was Mugen we are talking about and he ALWAYS had ulterior motives.

Finally, at long last, Fuu stirred from what actually looked to be a pretty peaceful sleep. "Wha… huh?" her words were still scrambled, however, as she was still piss drunk.

"Hey, I'm bringing ya home and crashing there for the night as payment for saving your pretty little ass." When it came right down to it, Mugen wasn't one to mince words. "If ya can't walk, I'll carry ya. Just tell me how to get to yer place."

Fuu was baffled. He saved her ass? From what? But the questions soon left her drunken head as she smiled up at him. "you know…" she trailed off for a moment and them came back to finish her dribble of a sentence. "You look a lot like this one guy I knew this one time. But he was ugly and you look more like a smudge."

Mugen couldn't be sure what the hell this girl was talking about, she was so drunk it wasn't even funny. She probably wasn't seeing strait any longer, so that's what he chalked up his smudgey appearance to… but she still wasn't making too much sense.

But even still, he couldn't shake the feeling that he knew her from some where too. If he was crazy he might have even thought she was Fuu. But she was WAY too sexy to be that little twig of a brat he had once known. But still, he was intrigued. I mean, it had been a few years since he last saw her… he supposed there was always the chance, but the doubt in his mind was so high he pushed the notion right out of his head the instance it had entered.

Fuu giggled haphazardly at the sensation of the man's hands inching their way beneath her laying body. In one fluid motion Mugen had her up off of the floor and into his arms bridal style. But honestly, she was more like a giant sack of rice than anything else; hardly fitting for a bride in her inebriated state. "Ok girly, point the way home."

A/N: So? How did you like the first of many chapters? Again, reviews are always welcome. And don't worry, I update regularly so it won't end here.


	2. The Reveal

Mugen didn't sleep the entirety of the night, and not for the reasons that he would have liked

A/N: Thank you to all that reviewed and or read… or whatever. I am glad to hear that you all generally enjoyed the fic so far. Again, reviews are always more than welcome!!

CH 2: THE REVEAL

Mugen didn't sleep the entirety of the night, and not for the reasons that he would have liked. No, this mysterious woman that was housing him for the night was passed out cold the instant they entered her tiny little shack of a house.

The reason our hero couldn't catch any sleep was that his absolutely famished stomach kept him up with it's constant growling. It obviously knew that Mugen had decided to drink instead of feeding it, and it wasn't even enough to get him buzzed. So now he was both hungry _and_ had the unpleasant taste of stale sake on his pallet.

Morning couldn't have some soon enough. As soon as even the slightest bit of sunlight made its way in through the blinds Mugen was up from his designated spot on the floor and marching over to the couch that Fuu had ended up on. (A/N: I don't actually know if they even _had_ actual couches back then in Japan. But I'm sure that if they didn't, they had something like it).

"Hey," he said hoarsely while nudging her with his hand. Nothing. "Hey!" he began to revive his voice. "Hey lady, wakey wakey!! I'm starved. Make me food."

Fuu began to stir. She was in the midst of a dream, this much Mugen could be sure of. She swatted at both him and the air around her and began to mumble. "Mugen…your- your such a jerk. Go away."

His jaw slacked, his eyebrows arched, and his eyes grew as wide as saucers. How did this girl know his name? How did she- And then it hit him.

She was dreaming, she didn't even know that there was anyone else in the house with her. She was remembering him from somewhere deep within the depths of her mind. She knew him because she was Fuu.

Almost instantly, Mugen lost his footing from shear shock and nothing more. He stumbled back a few good paces and knocked over an end table and the vase on top of it while in the process of falling on his ass. The loud noise was enough to jolt Fuu from her drunken sleep, and all Mugen could do was sit and watch in horror as his comrade from ages ago rolled over to face the commotion.

At first she couldn't speak, she only rubbed her eyes making sure that they were correctly focused and not playing tricks on her. And then… at long last, the screaming commenced.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?! Wait… OH MY GOD… MUGE- wait, WHA?! WHAT THE HELL? HOW THE HELL… how did you …" she began to settle down and ended on one note. "What the hell happened last night?"

Mugen simply stared at the hysterical girl with bulging eyes. It took him a long few moments to shake himself out of his paralyzed state of terror before he could even begin to answer her. Finally, he felt he was stable enough to reply, "Thought you'd be happy to see me." His answer was smug. In Fact everything about him was smug. So smug that it really _had_ to be him.

With excitement rushing over her she scrambled to her feet, preparing to jump her long lost friend and assault him with a barrage of hugs. But she was cut short as her head rushed with blinding pain and she fell back onto the couch. "Oh GOD… my head. My head… it feels like you kicked me in the head."

"Damn it, I didn't kick your face in." To be honest, it actually cut Mugen pretty deep to know that Fuu would actually think he was such an ass that he would _kick_ her in the _head_ upon first reuniting with her. He really wasn't sure why this sat the way it did with him, but he brushed it off once his stomach decided to join in on the argument.

The loud growl alerted Mugen of the exact reason as to why he had had such a shitty night to begin with. "You…you uh… you got any food?" His question was meekly put for such a strong attitude.

Fuu sat herself up on the couch and took a good look at him for the first time this morning. Apparently the years had not been good to him. Sure, he was still the same vagabond, rowdy, punk-ass guy she had grown to know so many years ago, but he had hardened over. He was back to square one. Any bit of him that he had let soften over the course of their journey was back to its rugged self again. Not only that, but he looked tired. There were dark circles beneath his eyes, he was thinner, and there were a few more scars scattered about his body than she could remember.

"Oh Mugen," she began while getting to her feet. At first Fuu sounded sickly sweet, but she soon decided to bag the whole act because she just _knew_ it would earn her a good teasing. "Mugen you look… you look… god you look worse than I remember."

Mugen scoffed, "thanks a lot, bitch. And you look even shittier with a hangover." With that last comment, he headed in the direction that he thought her kitchen might be. When he finally made his way into the one room of her house that held all that glorious food he poked his head out of the doorway to shout one last vicious comment. "And go put some fucking clothes on, yer kimono fell off while you were passed out!!"

The eyes in Fuu's head bulged as she looked down to realize that her only shroud of dignity was being covered by nothing more than a few body wraps.

Mugen chuckled to himself as he scrounged around for some food that would be to his liking, and then paused for a moment as he heard an agonized shriek of embarrassment and the scamper of bare feet. There was a slam of a sliding door and Mugen could just barely pick out Fuu's cursing throughout the house. He stilled himself for a moment's passing, and then snorted out a rough laugh as he continued on his quest for food.

While he spent some time preparing a meal that was fit for a king… or at least… by proportion standards, he finally had time to process everything that had just happened. That whirlwind of a girl really _was_ Fuu. When did she get all grown up? He could almost call her attractive by his standards… but she wasn't quite there. After all… this _was_ Fuu he was talking about. Even still…

Fuu stood before her mirror, studying herself and making sure that all the evidence of the night before had been completely wiped away from her body. She looked fresh and new and was ready to face the day head on. She spun around to check herself over one final time, and then exited her room to go deal with her new guest.

By the time she had gotten to Mugen, he was already reclining in his seat with a fully satisfied stomach. He was picking his teeth with a splinter of wood he had picked up somewhere. Fuu actually wondered where it was that it came from, but her curiosity was soon pummeled as she realized that he had dug it out of her table. She felt her blood begin to boil. But instead of flipping out just yet, she decided she would rather get herself some tea and some rice first.

Mugen lazily watched as Fuu bent over in search of her bag of rice. When she failed to find it she slowly rose and turned to face her friend. "Mugen..." She began slowly, "Where's all my rice?"

She couldn't be sure if it was the apathetic way he replied, or just the hangover talking, but when he told her that he ate all of it she was sent over the edge. "You ate ALL my rice?!" She hollered, nearly pulling out her hair. "What the hell is your problem?! That was my food for the next _month_!" Mugen said nothing, no apologies, nothing. He just stared at her while she finished up with her tantrum.

"Bitch, are you done?" His voice was so calm that even though he _had_ just called her a bitch, Fuu had to let it all slide.

"Yes Mugen, I'm done," she said, feeling rather defeated. In one, not so fluid, motion she slumped down across from him and put her aching head in her hands. "Gah, I hope I don't have work today. I won't be able to survive it." Fuu sighed. "I'll have to take the day off."

However, either way she would have to get herself out of the house to go and either beg for a sick day, or realize that she had the day off anyway. Fuu sighed, realizing that today promised to be a tough one. "Listen, I gotta go to the tea shop and try and get the day off… and probably bring back some more rice. You stay here, we still need to talk." She flashed him a warning glare and headed out the door. As she was leaving Mugen called after her.

"Oi! You gonna tell me where yer bathroom is?"

"Why?"

"So I can take a piss and a bath, why do you care?" he spat while rubbing at his eye with a balled up fist.

"Well… I take my baths at the public bathhouse. If you can wait until I get back I can show you where that is. And the water closet is right down the hall." She paused for a moment's time. "Just uh… you know, empty everything out when you're done."

"Yeh yeh," he muttered as he turned away from her.

Fuu called after him before she left for real this time, "I'm serious Mugen, stay put". She heard a grunt from down the hall, and figured that was the best she was going to get from him, so with a shake of her head she turned and left for the tea shop.

Fuu ambled down the street, praying to god that her hangover would stop its assault on her body. She hadn't had that drink of tea, which meant she was still pretty dehydrated from the previous night.

The previous night.

What had happened last night? She never went out on the town or got drunk or any of that stuff ever. But the one time she decided to give it a try she ended up passed out drunk, and practically naked with Mugen hanging around waiting for her to wake up. God, she hoped that the night before didn't happen as the morning after made it appear.

At long last she made it to the little shop. The instant she ducked under the curtain that separated the outside world from the inside of the shop her boss called out to her.

"My my, Fuu, you're in early today. Can't wait to get to work, ey?" The petit old woman hacked out her old woman laugh and began to shuffle away when Fuu stopped her in her slow moving tracks.

"Actually Ma'am, I came in to ask for the day off". She put on a fake sickly voice, just incase her appearance wasn't convincing enough. "I'm not feeling too hot today."

"Well… I suppose that would be just fine. You haven't taken a sick day yet, so you go get yourself some rest deary."

Honestly, Fuu loved her boss to death. She was the sweetest thing in the world, and was almost like a mother figure to her. "Thank you so much!" she bubbled. "Actually though… there's one more thing". The woman waited patiently for the next question. "Can I have a little rice… all mine was eaten by… by a rat."

The woman looked on in general concern, "well I can't have my workers starving, that would be just fine. It's in the back."

Fuu nodded and retreated into the backroom only to emerge out second later with a new sack of rice. "Thanks again", she waved as she stepped back out onto the street.

MEANWHILE

Mugen had been laying on what her had guessed was Fuu's futon. The smell actually irritated his nose a little, but he had chalked it up to the dust and not her scent. Even though he was slightly sleepy from his restless night and his full belly, Mugen didn't much feel like taking a nap. So instead, he resorted to doing what he did best; snooping around and being mischievous.

Since Fuu was probably going to be out for a while, he took it upon himself to do some harmless investigating within the parameters of her house. He sat up lazily, succeeded in performing a few routine stretches, and then made his way to her dresser. His hands ambled their way aimlessly through each shelf knocking over anything and everything in their way. What he left behind him was nothing short of a catastrophe. "Damn broad has nothin' interesting to throw up in her face."

He moved to the next closest thing in his path of destruction. This just so happened to be a small bookshelf. Honestly, Mugen didn't expect to really find anything incriminating here, but what he did find was a whole lot more bizarre. After throwing nearly a dozen books on the floor he managed to get his filthy little hands on one particular, oddly familiar looking book.

A few moments fleeted by as Mugen scratched at the back of his head while trying to dig up where he had seen this before. And then it hit him, it him like a pair of metal clad geta to the face (not like he would know what that would feel like). This was Fuu's old diary!

With all the excitement of a kid on Christmas day, Mugen tore into the tiny pink notebook with a force to be reckoned with. Now that he had learned to read he was able to decipher most of what she had to say, even though admittedly he was still reading at a very low level.

This made it difficult for him to get a clear picture of what she was trying to say, as most of the sentences he would read would come out warped in one form or the other. For instance, when Fuu had written, _"Sometimes Mugen can drive me so crazy. He has the worst smelling feet."_ He was actually seeing, _" Sometimes Mugen has feet. I smell them like crazy."_ He blinked a few times, just a bit more baffled than usual.

"Damn girl, you're more messed up than I thought."

He shook his head and read on. When Fuu had written, _"It's been some time since I last ate. It's the same way for the two guys I'm with, I'm sure. I'm so hungry, I hope we can eat soon." _Mugen saw, _"It's been so long since I last ate. There're two guys I'm with. I'm so hungry. I'm sure I will eat them."_

As Mugen continued to read on, he began to believe that Fuu might actually be insane. There was no way he was going to let this go. As soon as she walked in through that sliding paper door, he had a few questions for her as well. At the very least, he knew he would succeed in making her angry, which he always took pleasure in.

It really wasn't long before Fuu dragged herself, along with the massive sack of rice, in through the front door. "Mugen?" she called out. At least 80 of her really wasn't expecting to answer back. Knowing him, he would have stayed just long enough for the free grub and a piss and be on his merry way. Surprisingly though, this wasn't the case at all.

"Ey you, get in here real quick." Mugen was going mad waiting on her, so when she finally returned he was about ready to pounce on her with all sorts of questions concerning her writings in the diary.

She pulled back the door to her bedroom to find Mugen in the one place she had prayed she would never find him. He was sitting atop her futon with his dirty feet entangled in her sheets, her diary in his hands, and a fiery glint in his eyes.

He simply couldn't wait to rip into her. This was going to be fun.

A/N: Uh oh… to be continued…..


End file.
